Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime loyalty program has attracted 25 million new customers in the past year.
Amazon now has 90 million Prime members as of Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal third quarter, which is an estimated 63% of all Amazon customers in the U.S., according to data released Wednesday by securities research firm Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP). The number of Prime customers is up 38.5% from 65 million this time last year and up 5.9% from an estimated 85 million at the end of the second quarter, June 30.
Prime is Amazon’s membership program that costs shoppers $99 annually or $10.99 monthly and offers perks such as free expedited shipping and streaming video. CIRP’s estimates are based on a survey of 500 shoppers in the U.S. who made purchases from Amazon during the July-September period. Amazon does not release exact figures on the number of Prime customers.
Here’s a look at how the number of Prime members has grown over the past year and a half, according to CIRP estimates:
Not only is the number of Prime members in the U.S. growing, CIRP’s data shows those members are becoming more loyal. CIRP estimates that 95% of Prime customers will “probably” or “definitely” renew their membership, up from 94% as of Sept. 30, 2016.
“The share of members that indicate they are likely to renew for another year has remained high for several quarters, always comfortably above 90%,” CIRP co-founder Mike Levin says. “In fact, in some quarters, literally no customers in the sample indicated they would definitely not renew their Amazon Prime membership.”
A growing number of Prime members benefits Amazon, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2017 Top 500, because those shoppers spend more with the e-retailer and buy more often. CIRP estimates that Prime customers spend $1,300 per year on Amazon, compared with $700 for non-Prime members.
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